Froggie, Allie and Izzy

So we're pet sitting for another homeschool family. Homeschoolers usually have strange pets probably since they're more interesting than your run of the mill dog. Don't get me wrong, they usually have dogs too and spiders, snakes, lizards, guinea pigs, rabbits, turtles and so on but this family has a poisonous dart frog. Ya, you heard me. Crazy, I know. He is really cool looking and of course he's a "look only" pet. He has to be fed wingless fruit flies. I know what you're thinking. Do I sit there and have to pull of the wings of each fruitfly before I feed it to this frog? No, they are bred that way so they don't have wings. You do have to dust them in a calcium powder first and then tap them into the cage. The cage has to be misted twice a day and you have to use spring water to fill his little pond. Our tap water contains chlorine and it would kill him since he drinks from it and sits in it for part of the day. He has real plants in his terrarium so they have to be watered every few days. He also has a heating pad on one corner of his cage and two heat lamps that are temperature controlled. That's just one of the pets we're watching for three months. I know, three months. That's another thing about homeschoolers, they like to go on three month long road trips across the United States so they can see every historical landmark possible. I have to admit, it does sound kind of fun to me. The problem with these trips is who will watch all of the pets? Another homeschool family of course because we see it as an opportunity to learn. We get to learn how to take care of strange animals and it gives us an opportunity to think beyond ourselves. Justin loves reptiles and amphibeans and his friend is the one going on the three month long car trip. All the animals are in his room and yesterday he came downstairs and said it was a dream come true. He said he wants his whole house to look like his room when he grows up. With terrariums and heat lamps and creepy crawlies all around. He really wants a snake but I have a rule. A rule which I have broken during this pet sitting experience. We can only have pets that if they got out of their cage I would not be creeped out. I seriously doubt this little teeny tiny dart frog would be able to escape from his huge terrarium so I'm not worried. So on to the other pets. A crested gecko called Izzy. He's really cool looking and will jump from one branch to the glass. He did it last night when I was checking on him and it scared me because he jumped right at me. He has to be fed baby food mixed with crested gecko powder formula from a spoon. I know, crazy again. I guess he's a finicky eater. Well I know all about those because I have several of those in my house already. The only difference is they're human. He did really well yesterday and licked the spoon almost completely clean. He didn't run away from me or bite my finger. Good thing ha? He has a fountain that has to be filled regularly. The fountain provides humidity. Aside from the baby food thing he's pretty easy. There is also an alligator lizard. He looks like a miniature alligator hence the name. He just needs a few calcium dusted crickets and water in his holder every day. Very easy. No heat lamp, no baby food, no wingless fruitflies. Piece of cake. Well maybe not that but still pretty easy. I hope none of them die on us, especially the poisonous dart frog.